The Last Day

Even the most beautiful experiences must finally come to an end. Thus it is that after a luxurious, put-your-feet-up sojourn at Camp Xanadu, I am at last facing the prospect of returning to the humdrum reality of everyday life. One of the most disappointing aspects of such endings is that one is rarely able to extend the ease and enjoyment all the way to the last; specifically, the last day, rather than allowing one a final reiteration, or even heightening, of the pleasures of the vacation, inevitably fills one instead with wistfulness and melancholy, as one faces the end of one’s magical break in normalcy, and the loss of life-enhancing perspectives that only the transcendence of life’s routine can bring.